A clogged gutter led Al Novstrup to the rooftop of a building he owns at 220 S. Main St. in downtown Aberdeen. But pigeon droppings kept him there. “It was amazing,” Novstrup said. “There were pickup loads of pigeon manure up there. I went up there because I thought the gutter was plugged with a nest or two. It was plugged with pigeon manure.” Novstrup spent 12 hours power washing the roof, which had collected 3 inches of feces in a 50-by-10-foot space. He then had to call in the city to come by and collect the mess, which had collected in the alley. “I knew there were a lot of pigeons up there, but I had no idea just how bad it was,” Novstrup said. “I didn't believe a bird that small can do that much damage.” And it's likely others don't know the problems pigeons can - and have caused - either, said Margot Gillette of the Aberdeen Downtown Association. “When they're on your roof, you can't see the damage they're doing,” she said. “We know they swoop at our heads, but we don't know what they're doing on the roofs.” Plan in place: That could be about to change. While pigeons have long been a concern of officials, business and property owners and visitors to downtown Aberdeen, there's now a plan in place to deal with the problem. In the past - and even as recent as a month ago - the city and the downtown association used trapping to control the pigeon population. John Weaver, animal control officer for the city of Aberdeen, said the most recent trapping resulted in 500 pigeons being captured. But the problems still persist, Gillette said. “The pigeons are the most frequent complaint we hear about,” she said. “There's so many of them that trapping just isn't working anymore.” And a few property owners in downtown Aberdeen have to replace their roofs, partly because of the build-up of pigeon feces. A committee of about seven to eight people, Gillette and Novstrup included, spent four months exploring the problem and discussing possible solutions. What they came up with was a two-step plan - educating property owners on what they can do to help maintain the pigeon population and reduce roosting places and building coops for the birds and going in and culling, or gathering, their eggs. “We studied this for a long time,” Gillette said. “This is the program we think is most likely to succeed. ... What we're really trying to do is educate to produce awareness and create action. This isn't just a downtown problem. It's a citywide problem.” Paying for the program: A $3,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation should pay for the education part, which will be used to hire a specialist to come in, look at the roofs and tell property owners what they can do to fix the problems. The Downtown Association applied for the grant in partnership with United Way of Northeastern South Dakota, Gillette said. The other costs, which are estimated at about $9,800 to pay for the expenses that come from building coops and culling eggs, could end up coming from the city, Gillette said. Or at least that's the hope. “It's not in the budget right now, but that's not to say that it won't be,” Aberdeen Mayor Mike Levsen said. “I expect it to come up before the final budget is done.” The public hearing and the first reading of the 2008 budget will be Aug. 27. Some have doubts: Still, there is some skepticism from the mayor. “I am unconvinced that anything that doesn't deal with the food supply will have any kind of significance on the pigeon population,” he said. “... I'm not saying we shouldn't try, but nobody should expect an answer from it.” Even Gillette acknowledged that a difference might not be seen immediately. “The goal isn't to eliminate the pigeon population,” she said. “We just want to get control of it. It's a long-term plan.” Weaver said when the trapper came to Aberdeen about a month ago, he estimated that there were still 400 to 500 pigeons he could see still flying around when he left. “Anything that will help get the pigeon population under control I'm all for,” he said. So is Novstrup, who was admittedly skeptical at first. “Almost every city has got a pigeon problem and nobody has found a perfect solution, yet,” he said. “But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.” If the plan is going to succeed, it's going to take a joint effort by the Downtown Association, the city and the property owners, Gillette said. “It's can't be done without the city's support, and it can't be done without the support of the property owners,” she said. “... The education of the downtown property owners is a big part of this. We want to help them understand how they can be a part of a citywide program to reduce the pigeon population. Building maintenance is an essential part of what we're trying to do.”